hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, oh my...

I have noticed these last few days, I have been jumping more often back to the weather channel for tropical storm updates.  Thankfully it looks as if Isaac may be compared to an obnoxious younger brother to Katrina, rather than some demonic evil twin, but still he bares watching.  I still have a vested interest in the gulf coast, the boy still lives down there.  Benny and I have family and friends down there.  We remember the aftermath of Katrina vividly, it isn't pleasant.

Two weeks ago, we experienced some devastating wildfires up here in our Okla county.  Thankfully we were out of harm's way, but we knew some people from our church parish who were affected.  The week after this happened I was in Walmart and as I stood in line to check out, I listened to conversations about evacuations, and being displaced, and someone knew someone else who had been affected.  It took me back in time, seven years ago, right after Katrina had hit and the conversations were of a similar nature.  Fema was involved, looting was of a concern, there was a question of the National Guard being called in, talk about deja vu.

I got to thinking about the differences though, fire and water.  Pictures of the aftermath were eerily similar.  Everything looked dead, and rebuilding was inevitable.  Something that struck me as strange was the difference in loss of life.  People can watch a hurricane approaching on a technological device and get prepared, but from what I understand these fires just appeared on people's doorsteps and they barely had time to get out.  1800 people were killed during Hurricane Katrina, one elderly woman was killed during these wildfires.  We may be talking apples and oranges here, true, but still...

I am a firm believer in being prepared and taking precautions.  The boy told me he had water and a flashlight, oh and some soup.  It's his first storm, he'll learn.  I'm not sure he had any palms to burn, but I'm praying for Our Lady of Prompt Succor's intervention to keep everyone safe.  It is the height of hurricane season, so be prepared.